the cruelty of nature

Hello, long-lost friends! We enjoyed a nice weekend with my family in Augusta, hence the unintentional weekend blogging hiatus. We had three birthdays to celebrate, as well as a women's conference to attend (for my mom and I), amazing shopping to do (my fave consignment store, as well as Forever 21 and Sephora!), lots of food to eat, and plenty of nice weather and flowers to enjoy in the backyard. Also, it took me practically half the weekend to read all of the comments you folks left on my last post-- whoa!! I knew you would help me out if I asked! Apparently most people are big fans of where they live, which is good (for you!)...but it didn't help me narrow anything DOWN too much. I guess we can dedicate the next year to traveling the country, visiting each fabulous city. That would be fun. Although I think that half of the cities are in North Carolina and Texas...both places I already love. Anyways. Thanks. 

 So on Saturday, Mom and I spent the day at a women's conference. Matt was at home with my dad (and the menagerie of animals, of course). Apparently they spent the morning doing some Manly Stuff (replacing some boards on the pool deck), and then they were engaged in a bit of Back Porch Sittin', which is a full-time job at my parents' house. Matt became enthralled by a little 'gecko' (as he called it. I would call it a lizard, but I can't honestly say I know the difference...any herpetologists want to weigh in? Is that even what reptile people are called?).  He must have watched this thing for an hour, based on the number of pictures he took and the amount of details he could tell me about the little guy. I was proud of Matt for using the Big Girl (well, Boy, I guess) Camera and even changing out the lenses! Here's a little glimpse of his first photo shoot with the lizard:

I love the next picture. I think it looks like the lizard is saying "wanna fight??" to Matt. Matt was using the zoom lens and says he was 8-10 feet away taking these shots!

OK, so, cool lizard, right? After 40 pictures or so (and watching him change colors from green to brown and back to green), Matt called it quits and went inside. A little while later, he came back out-- and his friend was still sitting there! But there was something different about him this time. Not just his color-- he'd already seen him do his color-changing trick. But this time, there was something different around his head...

WARNING! GRAPHIC NATURE PHOTOS AHEAD! PEOPLE NOT OKAY WITH THE CIRCLE OF LIFE, PROCEED WITH CAUTION!! (Everyone else, proceed ahead with the song Circle of Life playing in your head. You're welcome.)

 Yup. Yes, he is chowing down on a butterfly.

 Butterfly! It's what's for dinner!

 Isn't that the craziest thing? Matt watched the whole gory event, too. Sick. Luckily for us all, butterflies don't have blood...I guess. (Entomologists, feel free to correct me.)

And lest you think a lizard would not find himself hungry after eating such a feast on Saturday afternoon...well, you would be wrong. The NEXT day, our little friend was back (Matt, being close and personal friends with the lizard, recognized him immediately) and we watched him eat both an ant and a fly within about 4 minutes. That dude can seriously pack away the food!

In other cruelty of nature news, Mother's Day is fast approaching. So far I've only had one major meltdown, so it will be exciting to see what the rest of the week holds. I was asked to do a guest post on another blog (that I super love) next week, providing a different perspective on Mother's Day (the infertility perspective, obviously) for new moms...so I've been working on that. And crying. And erasing most everything I write. So you can just be praying that I come up with something coherent and not slit-your-wrists depressing, and next week I'll let you know when and where it's posted! 

And lastly, I bring to you a final cruelty of nature life: that I am not rich. Because when I was shopping at Sephora this weekend, I really wished that I ___ (grammar police: should I use 'was' or 'were' right here? I've changed it about 10 times and just can't decide). On the plus side, I got myself all fixed up with bareMinerals! In addition to the starter kit thing (primer, foundation, face color, mineral veil, and brushes), I got the concealer. So far I am LOVING IT. I bet that once I watch the DVD and figure out how to do it right, I'll love it even more, ha. But since that was already putting me out a nice chunk of change, I couldn't justify buying all the other things my heart and eyes were lusting after...like everything Urban Decay makes. Sigh. I'm thinking about doing another post soon with just a list of all the things I'd like from Sephora. I figure some of you are probably super rich and have run out of things to buy yourselves, so you can just buy me some things, right?! Sounded reasonable to me.

Anyway. In yet another cruel act of nature (I know, you thought we were done! I did too!), the dog needs to go potty. Which means I need to walk her. So I guess we're done here now. Happy Almost-Tuesday!